Eco-Efficient Appliances for the Home & Garden

For ease and efficiency, Control 4 takes the energy-saving concept a step further by linking different systems in your home—heating, lighting, home theater, music and security—to one wired or wireless remote control. By accessing virtually your entire home network from a simple touch panel or remote Internet connection, you can significantly reduce your energy consumption without cramping your style. Control 4 says that when its energy-saving system is used in a typical three-bedroom house, it can save more than 850 pounds of carbon emissions a year—the same as not driving a car for a month.

This wireless lighting system can control all the lights in your home from your car, the patio or the comfort of your bed at the touch of a button. Dimming house lights can save up to 40 percent of electricity usage—and with Aurora's new pre-programmed system you can time the lights to your preference, ensuring minimal waste for when you're not around. The system can be installed in under 30 minutes and comes with easy-to-use remotes and unobtrusive wall-plates.

Water is one of the planet's most precious commodities, yet so much of it is wasted by inefficient toilets, faucets, showers, dishwashers and washing machines. A leader in energy and water-efficient products, Fisher Paykel's EcoSmart and AquaSmart washing machines complete laundry in up to half the time of a traditional front loader, control water levels to fit the load, and feature spin cycles that save a third more time and energy in the dryer.

Anyone who hates throwing food away will love Naturemill, a clever mini-composter that's ideal for a kitchen, laundry or garage. You can place any organic waste in it—up to 120lbs of vegetables, coffee grounds and tea bags, dairy, meat and fish; Naturemill's upper chamber mixes, heats and aerates the compost and later transfers it to the lower chamber, so you can add fresh food scraps. Remove the fresh compost when the red light comes on and use it to fertilize your window boxes, indoor plant pots or yard. You can install the mini-composter indoors or outside without odors, worms or bugs. Good for the garden, great for the environment.

The statistics are enough to make you draw the curtains—an estimated $30 billion, or a quarter of all home energy, is lost each year through single pane windows—but there is a simple and highly effective way to curb it. Energy Film is made of “spectrally selective” material that blocks 70 percent of solar heat in summer (thus reducing the need for air-conditioning) and can reduce heat loss in winter. It also eliminates almost all harmful UV light while still allowing more than 75 percent of natural light into the room. The thin, transparent window film is non-tinted, can be trimmed to fit all window sizes, and is easy to apply.

Why wait until your electricity bills arrive when you can monitor consumption with this innovative sensor and software program. Created by the young industrial design team at the London-based firm DIY Kyoto, the Wattson part of the package provides a digital reading (in watts or cost) of how much energy each electrical appliance uses when you switch it on or off. The Holmes part is a software program which shows the usage in easy-to-follow graphs and charts, helps you find ways on how to reduce electricity, and links you to a community of like-minded people who swap energy-saving ideas and advice. There are two sleek versions of Wattson (in standard acrylic and handmade bamboo and acrylic), and it's portable and wireless for use anywhere in the home. Wattson and Holmes is more than just practical—its sleek design and unique, high-tech cool factor will have your dinner party guests oohing and aahing.

Move over, hybrid car, and make way for the hybrid lawnmower—the world's first fully automatic and solar-powered machine that cuts grass all by itself. Say what? Yes, you can sit back with a cold, organically-brewed beer in hand and watch as Husqvarna's head-turning Automower Solar Hybrid turns your out-of-control lawn into a neatly clipped emerald carpet. With a built-in solar panel, personalized settings console, charging station, easy height adjustment, large course-treaded wheels and noise-reducing motor, this little beauty uses less energy and is whisper-quiet compared to a standard lawnmower, yet cuts through the toughest grass. It also comes with a security PIN, which means if your neighbor nabs it, it won't work for him. Who cares that it looks like giant squashed bug—it mows the lawn all by itself. Time for another beer!